diesel trucks-worth it?

Speaking from my own perspective only I'd stay away from a heavy duty pickup (diesel or otherwise) if I had no real reason to own one. I was pretty set on getting a 2018 F250 Diesel until I rode with a friend of mine in his to his ranch and back. After 400 miles I was DONE with that ride. What a beat-down. Towing a trailer it's amazing, commuting in it sucked. I tow a 5K pound trailer occasionally and my 1/2 ton handles it with easy.

And I fall into the 'keep the company truck and sell the car' group.
 
He got a flat tire in his 1/2 ton company truck so was using one of the 2500 Chevy Diesels for a few days and didn't mind the ride. He was just relocated to WV now so he is in the mountains still with his 1/2 ton. He was talking about selling his car and keeping the company truck but I think there might be insurance implications to not owning a vehicle and not being insured on any vehicles but I told him to call our insurance company about that.
 
He got a flat tire in his 1/2 ton company truck so was using one of the 2500 Chevy Diesels for a few days and didn't mind the ride. He was just relocated to WV now so he is in the mountains still with his 1/2 ton. He was talking about selling his car and keeping the company truck but I think there might be insurance implications to not owning a vehicle and not being insured on any vehicles but I told him to call our insurance company about that.

Where in WV? It seems that right now the main concentration of pipeline work is on Route 50 between Parkersburg and Clarksburg or on Route 35 in Putnam County. Of course, they are everywhere - I think our population has quadrupled lately!
On the subject of diesel vs. gas - I daily drive a 6.7L turbo diesel 2017 F350 dually crew cab long bed Lariat. Unloaded, I average 22 mpg highway 16 mpg city. Pulling a camper I get around 13 mpg on average, though I have gotten 17 mpg every now and then. The truck is very quiet and well mannered. I've put 60,000 miles on it since December with no issues at all. Anybody that says DEF is a pain is simply uninformed - DEF is inexpensive and is the only pollution control device that does not rob the engine. DEF is injected into the exhaust stream and converts the corrosive acids into air and water. I don't mind having it at all. I used to have a 2012 6.2L gas F250 crew cab short bed Lariat. I loved that truck when I had it, but the reality was that it barely averaged 18 mpg on the highway empty and 10 mpg towing - which would quickly drop to 8 mpg going uphill.
The Thing:
Diesels are incredibly powerful - mine has nearly 500 horse power and almost 1000 pounds torque. But they are also very fragile. Pumping a tank full of gasoline into a diesel truck will cost a lot of money to fix - between the high pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors, I've heard up to $20,000.00 quoted. Pumping DEF into the fuel tank will do the same thing. Allowing water to get into the engine will destroy it. You really do not want to skip any scheduled maintenance. At the same time, oil and filter change times have increased dramatically, what used to have to be done every 3500 miles is now more like 7500 miles. I let the dealer change my oil and filter for $100.00 - they top off the fluids, check brakes, measure tread depth, along with a host of other items while I sit in the air conditioned waiting room watching TV and eating their free snacks. BTW, engine warranty is 300,000 miles from the factory IIRC.
Resale value of a diesel truck is higher, but then, so is the front end price, so that's a wash in my book. Generally speaking though, the diesel will sell more easily.
I would recommend against a 2500 or 250 though. The price difference between a 3/4 ton and a 1 ton is really insignificant and the 1 ton will be more versatile. I do recommend getting the 5th wheel/gooseneck prep. Even if he doesn't use them, having the prep in place adds to resale desirability. I really prefer Ford's tailgate step over GM's bumper step. Heck, I prefer Ford trucks over Izuzu - I mean GM - period.
Whether to go company truck or personal truck, I really can't say with any real certainty. You and he are in a much better position than anybody to determine his best options financially.
Good luck!
 
He was talking about selling his car and keeping the company truck but I think there might be insurance implications to not owning a vehicle and not being insured on any vehicles but I told him to call our insurance company about that.

Just went thru that after 20 years with a company car and no personal vehicle. All was well after my old company provided a letter stating that I was covered on their policy until my separation date.
 
He is right off exit 99 on I79. Lewis County? I remember there is a Ford and Toyota dealer right there. We were just there Friday. He said the hotel situation isn't good so we took my daughters 25' camper down to him. He isn't allowed to tow with his company truck so we took it down. It isn't a winter time camper so he is probably going to buy a new camper and new truck before winter. One of his co-workers in Canton just bought a new 5th wheel camper and new Dodge 2500 diesel to pull it. Living in a camper sucks but the hotels where he is has no freezer or cooking devices. He also has neighbors in the next room over that party and fight all night so he hasn't got much sleep...lol
 
on the one hand he wants to collect money and on the other hand he wants brand new . that does not mix . dont forget that its not only financing the truck , its maintanance and much wear and tear if he really uses it in hard terrain . i,m also wondering if a pickup is needed .

a land rover defender or a toyota landcruiser will outperform a f250 in terrain and that for lower costs . further - if he can still use the company fuel card i would not care if its a gasser or diesel and the mpg ...

if he has a company truck allowed for private use he can sell the subaru anyway.

and after using his own truck hard on construction sides , what resale do you expect on a f250 after years of hard use ? a brand new car looses the most of value in first years.

that calculations you make sound little odd .
 
They can't use a car or SUV. His 1500 sits too low as it is. He already ripped the front valance off just from regular driving in the field. If he gets a 1/2 ton then he will be installing a lift kit and bigger tires so add about $4000-5000 there. A comparable 2500 is only about $10,000 more than the 1500 so after the lift and tires it doesn't make much sense to go with the 1500. As for maintenance costs, the company covers almost all of that. They pay for tires, filters, and fluid changes even if it is your own vehicle. That is in addition to the per diem.
With the locations he will be at and the hotel situation like it is then he might be further ahead owning his own camper but he is not allowed to tow with the company truck. I had to tow it 3 hours away for him Friday. He can't sign any longer term leases on housing because he has no idea how long he will be at each site. He was in Canton for 3 months and they told him on a Wednesday that his last day there was Friday so he has to go month to month. He is month to month with his current hotel but there are no cooking appliances and no freezer so he can't cook there and he doesn't want to eat out every day, hence the camper. They might tell him tomorrow that he has to go to Texas next week. That could be a problem since he can't take the camper with him then (can't tow with the company truck). So buying his own truck is almost a must. If he knew he would be at a particular site for a certain amount of time that would be different but being in management he will be bouncing around wherever they tell him to go. The financial side make sense too. He will get just over $1000/month for using his own vehicle. If he takes what he pays on his car (he would be trading it in) and adds that to that +$1000 then he would be paying $1500/month of the new truck. They cover about 95% of all maintenance costs and it would be under warranty so it would take him about 3 years to pay it off. At the end of 3 years even if it is only worth $20,000 (a 3 year old 100,000 mile diesel is easily worth that) that is still $7000/year that he got extra for free.

The other point is that he is the only person not using their own vehicle. I was at the campground Friday and every camper there belonged to an employee of the company he works for and there were no company owned trucks in the lot. When he was in Canton only him and an intern had company trucks. The other 4 guys all used their own. There are 3 on his team now and he is the only one in a company truck and his 2 upper bosses both use their own. So out of about 10 full-time guys on his team he is the only one. I'm a statistics guy and it's hard for me to dismiss the fact that 9/10 on his team are using their own vehicle?

Sure there are drawbacks to it. It will be used hard and it will get scratches and dings but in the end it is a free truck that he won't be paying a penny for out of his pocket? In believe the warranty on the diesels are 100,000 miles so that would take about 3 years (about the time he would be paying it off). He can then either keep the truck and keep pocketing the $1100/month and bank that away for any out of warranty repairs of he can trade it in and have a very low payment on his next one (even if they only give him $20000 on trade thats a nice trade in).

The only other drawback I see is he is getting married next year and they are looking to buy a house. Having an $800/month truck payment would likely hurt his chances at getting a mortgage even though in the end he has more money in his pocket. I don't think banks would look at the per diem as income?

His 'plan' is to stay with this job for 2-3 years then update his resume and look for a 9-5 closer to home in the safety field. Even if he stays 2 years he would still only owe about $20,000 tops on the new truck. A 2 year old diesel with 60,000 miles should easily get $40,000 trade in so he would still have a net $20,000 equity for his trade on a 'regular' vehicle. He is looking at the loaded up leather editions so they are about $65k new.
 
i might live on the wrong side of the planet but what company offers you 1600 $ on top when you use your own vehicle AND simultany pays you not only fuel but all maintanance and wear costs for your PRIVATE car ???

if indeed its quick answer : do it . you pay 800 for financing and not a cent more for any additional costs . you get 1600 from the company and your truck will have some resale after three years .

but i would check twice if that is really real .
 
Yep. there is a guy that started a week before him that used a company truck then after a month or so he gave it back and brought his F250 gasser up and started using it. he then traded that for a slightly used 2017 Ram 1500 but then bought a 5th wheel camper last week so traded that in on a 2017 Dodge diesel. he hasn't had to have maintenance done yet but he gets an extra $1050ish in his check every month now (the $1600 is taxed). Another guy uses his diesel and took it for oil change and a few more things. His bill was over $600 and the company paid for it. That same guy got new ties for his truck a few weeks earlier and they paid for those too. and they still all use their company gas card. in fact his boss told him to make sure he fills up before he comes home on the weekends to make sure he has enough to get through. they have tanks on the property so probably get it cheaper but he has also used that card at local stations too.
brakes and other little things aren't covered but so far everything his co workers have had to do has been paid for.
Does sound too good to be true but so far thats how it has been. at his interview they asked him if he would be using his own truck or if he needed one and when he said he needed one they said they were surprised cause not many use the company truck.
 
He is right off exit 99 on I79. Lewis County? I remember there is a Ford and Toyota dealer right there. We were just there Friday. He said the hotel situation isn't good so we took my daughters 25' camper down to him. He isn't allowed to tow with his company truck so we took it down. It isn't a winter time camper so he is probably going to buy a new camper and new truck before winter. One of his co-workers in Canton just bought a new 5th wheel camper and new Dodge 2500 diesel to pull it. Living in a camper sucks but the hotels where he is has no freezer or cooking devices. He also has neighbors in the next room over that party and fight all night so he hasn't got much sleep...lol

Near Weston then. I just delivered a camper to a new dealership in Weston last Friday. They were preparing a fifth wheel that was bought by a pipeliner - could be his buddy’!
I prefer living in a camper over a motel any day. One of our kids lives in our fifth wheel on our property.
Anybody with a little plot of land is installing camper hookups. It’s crazy how the cost of living shoots up anywhere there is pipeline work going on.
 
Yeah. It is on Brushy Fork Road (Buckhannon?). My daughter has a 25' camper that she was selling so he is going to pay her some rent money every month but will only be using it a couple months because of winter coming. If he is still there then he will be looking at buying a new camper with the polar package for winter use. There were about 20 campers on this property and most were brand new 5th wheels. It looks like it was somebodys field and they put down a bunch of gravel and some hookups. Nothing fancy but it's only $600/month as opposed to the $2300/month he was spending on the hotel. Sp he will be able to pocket that extra. He is talking about saving as much as he can and building a new house in a few years after he leaves this job, which is another reason why he wants to buy his own truck. Let them pay for it then he has an asset at the end that he didn't pay for. Plus he isn't allowed to tow with the company truck...lol.

The co-worker that just bought the new camper is still in Canton so it wouldn't have been him. His boss in Canton just bought a $90,000 5th wheel about a month ago too. My son is only looking at spending about $25k on a camper if/when the time comes for him to get his own. He isn't the camping type so he would probably be selling it as soon as he leaves that job.

We ate at some steak place (buffet) right off the exit there and got gas at the Marathon across the highway. Who knows, maybe we passed you...lol.
 

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